Chapter 1 #2
Daddy’s business was flourishing, and Phoenix had become part of our family and a beneficiary of the Storm estate. This forced a change to my father’s will. That, in turn, affected the pre-nuptial agreement I had with Jasper. I didn’t care as I made my own money now.
“OK. Well, I’ll see you back at the house,” Jasper announced brusquely.
Thinking back to my interaction with the biker guy, I realized that was the first bit of excitement I’d experienced in weeks. I really needed to get out more.
I ended the call as my half-brother, Phoenix, appeared at the passenger side window. Pressing the unlocking mechanism, I nodded towards him, and he opened the door. I would have said perfect timing if I hadn’t been sitting there for the last twenty-five minutes.
“You said, half past,” I huffed, firing the engine as Nix slid in next to me. His car was in the shop, which was why I had to pick his sorry ass up from work.
“So?”
“So, it’s almost five to,” I complained.
He cut me an apologetic look as he clipped his seatbelt on. “Sorry, the Chief was on my ass about something, and I couldn’t get away.”
Phoenix was a firefighter and a valuable member of the Newport Fire Department. Having accrued over seventy hot saves in just two years, Nix was Employee of the Month material, yet the Fire Chief loved to bust his balls.
“You could just tell him to go fuck himself, as I suggested?” I pointed out, steering the car away from the sidewalk.
“If I took your advice, I’d be out of a job by Christmas,” Phoenix chuckled, pulling out his cell.
I knew I didn’t have long to wait before my brother mentioned the R-word.
“So, big news. Reed is home.”
And there it was.
I kept my eyes on the road as Nix’s eyes burned into the side of my cheek. “Yes. I heard. Have you seen him yet?”
His reply surprised me. “Yeah, about ten minutes ago. Turned up at the station. He did offer me a lift, but I wasn’t feeling his mode of transport.”
“What, the bus?” I snarked.
“Bitchy,” Nix countered.
“Sorry,” I added, knowing my comment was ridiculous as Reed had recently been filmed climbing out of several fancy cars. He’d probably never taken the bus in his lifetime, even before he was famous: a flashback of making out in his Jeep when we were teenagers jumped into my thoughts.
“I doubt his management would allow him anywhere near public transport. Too risky.” My brother declared, breaking through those heated memories.
“Indeed.” I knew exactly how wealthy Reed was after my Google fest. He was hounded way too much to travel like a regular person.
“So, how are you taking the news that he’s back?” Nix added, shoving his phone back into his jeans.
“Fine,” I said with a sniff, taking the corner too tight and curbing the fuck out of my back tire.
The sound of the alloy scraping across the concrete made me feel good.
Fucking up something Jasper had given me was sure to piss him off.
My life’s mission over the last few months.
I say the last few months, as that is when Jasper started to put pressure on about setting the date.
“Bullshit,” Nix remarked with a huff. “Look, I have no intention of talking about boys with you, but?.”
“Then don’t,” I rasped, cutting him off.
“But, if you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
“There really is nothing to talk about, Nix. So, Reed and I had a thing when we were kids. Sure, it was fun while it lasted, but we’re adults now.
I’m marrying Jasper, and Reed, well, Reed certainly hasn’t gone without, if the pictures of him with a different slut every other week are to be believed.
” I attempted to keep the bitterness out of my tone and clearly failed as I caught Phoenix’s huge, meaty grin.
“From my regular catch-ups with him, your observations are more than correct.”
“Good for him, I couldn’t care less.”
“If you say so.”
“You’re such a butthead, Phoenix,” I rasped, rolling my eyes and turning on the radio.
“Guilty as charged,” he volleyed back with a smirk.
As I stopped at the traffic lights, Nix’s cell started vibrating. “It’s Reed,” he explained after he’d tugged out his phone. Knots appeared in my stomach, and I pursed my lips, determined not to give away how that made me feel.
“Do you mind?” my brother added, pointing to the screen with an arched eyebrow.
I grimaced, waving my hand dismissively. “Be my guest.”
“Hey, man. You back at the hotel?”
Trying to look like you weren’t listening when you were, was harder than I thought it would be.
A car horn screeched rudely from behind me as the lights turned green and I had yet to move.
Phoenix flipped the guy off over his shoulder and nodded for me to drive on.
Clearing my throat, I rammed my foot on the accelerator, and the vehicle shot forward.
“You could always stay at the house?” Nix grunted as he held his cell closer to his ear and braced his other hand against the dash.
Please don’t stay at the house. That would make Ma Sawyer’s place out of bounds for the foreseeable future. Ma was the Sawyer brothers’ foster mother.
“The Paps? Yeah, probably not a great idea then.” Relief bloomed in my belly. Reed had clearly decided against stopping at his old house in case the media circus followed him there. From what I knew about Ma, she wouldn’t enjoy that type of invasion of her privacy.
“Yeah, OK. I get it. I’m just on my way back now. The Touchdown Tavern, at eight. Cool, see you there.”
As Phoenix hung up the phone, I couldn’t help but ask. “So, you guys are meeting up tonight?”
“That’s the plan. Why? Do you want to come?”
Every nerve ending screamed inside me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Besides, Jasper’s at the house. He wants to book the honeymoon tonight.” The thought of a honeymoon with my soon-to-be husband made my stomach churn.
“Where are you thinking?” I knew Nix was making small talk, trying to go easy on me. He must have known I was struggling with the thought of Reed being back in town.
On autopilot, I explained that we had discussed both the Bahamas and Mexico.
Around ten minutes later, I pulled the car in through the gates of our estate and steered it up the driveway.
At the end of his final year in college, Nix had moved from campus housing into the pool house.
I’d thought it would feel weird with him being so close and seeing him every day, but I liked it.
As an only child with two professional parents who were hardly ever there, I was partly raised by the staff.
Nix’s presence gave me a sense of being in a real family.
We bickered like brother and sister, too, which only reinforced that feeling.
Before Phoenix had agreed to live with us, Daddy had made a big deal of him and had shared the news of his son with the city.
The story my father and his PR people sold was, of course, much fancier than the truth.
I remember seeing the headline in the Herald, The Return of the Mayor’s Long-Lost Son.
The article beneath it had been pretty heart-wrenching, and Daddy’s public had lapped that bullshit up.
Anything to do with Phoenix’s troubled past, before Ma Sawyer, was wiped away.
And Phoenix was given the opportunity of a fresh start, one that he had welcomed with open arms. His relationship with our father had then gone from strength to strength, and I didn’t mind that at all.
Not being the only child had taken some of the heat off me for a while, and I enjoyed that breathing space.
Now, due to the looming wedding, I was back in the spotlight, much to my disgust.
Climbing out of the car, Nix walked around the trunk to join me at the pathway up to the main house.
“Are you coming up?” I asked, looking up into his strong, masculine face so like our father’s.
He gave me a crooked grin. “Nah, I need a shower before I head out.”
“OK. Well, have a good time and don’t get too shitfaced. I remember what the Sawyer brothers are like when they get together.”
Phoenix grinned and then lifted his hand to squeeze my shoulder. “You don’t have to worry, you know.”
“Worry how?”
“About Reed,” he replied, lowering his hand.
“Why would I worry?”
“If he gives you any shit, I mean.”
Dashing a hand down my face, I folded my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling defensive. “I can’t imagine he’d do that. What would be the point?”
Nix shrugged, “Well, I know he was pissed at first when you blew him off?” I knew only too well how men reacted when their egos were bruised.
‘Blew him off’ was the consensus from everyone who thought they knew what happened that night of the car accident.
I hadn’t told anyone I had been traveling to see Reed.
From my hospital bed, I had decided to call what happened fate. Reed and I were never meant to be. As far as everyone else knew, I had left the house shitfaced and had gotten behind the wheel for a drive to clear my head.
Luckily, I’d not lost my license. The private hospital I had been taken to had contacted my father when they’d received the results of my blood alcohol level.
The percentage hadn’t been sky high, but I was still well over the limit.
And of course, Daddy had arranged to get those results changed.
It was another one of those perks that came with being the mayor’s daughter.
Ex-mayor now, of course. Daddy had moved on, but he was still an important figure in Newport.
Luckily, the consequences of that night had only resulted in a huge wake-up call and a scar just beneath my collarbone.
“Maybe he’s back to settle an old score?” Nix added, suddenly breaking my train of thought about that fateful night.
“He’s back to play football, Phoenix. I can’t imagine thoughts of me are even on his radar.”
“Then you’re still as clueless as you were back then.”
I took a deep, calming breath and lifted my chin. “Go, take a shower. You stink.”
Phoenix grinned, lifting one arm and sniffing at his armpit. His eyes widened, confirming I was right. “When push comes to shove. I’ve got your back. You know that, don’t you?” he explained, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
My eyes narrowed. “But he’s your brother?” I missed out the foster part as they all saw each other as blood brothers.
Nix slowly nodded, his eyes never leaving mine as he pointed out. “And you're my sister.” His words made me feel relieved. Phoenix and I were close, and I knew that he’d never let anyone hurt me.
“What about bros before hoes?”
“You're not a hoe, and I’ll have words with anyone who says otherwise.” There was a brief pause before he added, “If you change your mind, we’ll be at the Tavern. Harper and Molly will be there.”
“I thought Harper had a late class tonight?” Phoenix’s girlfriend was a yoga instructor at his local gym. I attended her classes regularly.
“The studio was double-booked, and so she had to cancel.”
Glancing up at the house, I replied, “Thanks, but it’s best if I stay here tonight.”
“Best for whom?”
I pondered that question for a moment, twisting my lips. My sanity?
A thought suddenly occurred to me. “Have you invited Alex?” Alex was Phoenix’s other half-brother: the same mother, but a different father. He lived with Nix’s mother, Luna, and at only eighteen years old, was proving to be a handful.
“No. He’s grounded.”
“Again?”
“Yeah, I was hoping you could have a word if you see him next week?”
I worked one day a week with the Matron at my old high school, Harbor Heights High. Alex was finishing his senior year there; I’d sat through a couple of sessions with him but wasn’t seeing him officially. Our family connection was the reason for that.
“Yes, of course. If I get the chance.”
“Thanks. Pass on my good wishes to your intended, OK?”
“Goodnight, Nix,” I replied, ignoring his loaded request. He and Jasper got along, but Phoenix knew the marriage was a business transaction.
He had been quite outspoken with our father, saying he disagreed and labeling the union as a cold-blooded merger.
He knew nothing about Jasper’s threats towards his foster brother, of course. Nobody but I knew about that.
“Night, bitch.”
“Night, dick,” I threw back with a smile as I sauntered up the pathway that led to the house. With every step I took, I attempted to push thoughts of Reed out of my mind. Something I knew was going to be impossible now that he was back.
Some days it felt like the world was chipping away at me, bit by bit. A heaviness sat in my chest; thoughts of having to plan my honeymoon with Jasper curdled my stomach. I wasn’t in love with my fiancé. I was incapable of that feeling. My heart had flatlined the day Reed left.
The back of my eyes burned, and as I entered the house, I heard a motorcycle speeding up the road outside our estate.
Fucking bikers: obsessed, hot-rodders, who craved that sense of freedom by hitting the open road, oblivious to the inherent risks they took.
Well, that was one thing I certainly had no interest in doing anymore: taking risks.
Nope. It was time to accept my fate and play it safe. Marriage to Jasper may not give me affection or the adventure I used to crave, but at least I would have security and protection from potential gold diggers.
What could be more important than that?